News from 08/27/2007
Surpassing its results of the first six months in 2006 by more than €25mn, Westdeutsche Immobilienbank (WIB) will focus on capital market trading in the second half of 2007 and claims not to be affected by the current subprime crisis.
LEG NRW, a state-owned residential company, shall be sold in the first quarter of 2007 in a deal heavily bound by state stipulations, as about 70% of its property is in social housing.
Westgrund: Large-scale expansion until 2009 announced
The property firm Westgrund announces that it is planning large-scale
expansion with the goal of increasing the value of its portfolio tenfold
by 2009. Westgrund evaluates its current property assets at more than
€50mn, holding a portfolio of more than 1,250 units. The recent takeover of
a "long-established residential construction firm in Ludwigshafen" including
around 440 residential and 54 commercial properties for more than €20mn
was a first step in its growth strategy, the company stated.
HSH Nordbank: Subprime investments amounting to €1.8bn
The state-owned HSH Nordbank has invested €1.8bn in securitizations in the U.S.
subprime market. Chairman of the Board Hans Berger gave this figure while
presenting the data for the first half of the year in Hamburg. According to Berger,
the bank's involvement in the U.S. mortgage market amounts to a total of €4.4bn; the bank put the majority of its subprime credits together independently,
based on its own strict criteria, hes said. Only €300mn were invested by third
parties. For this segment, the bank reserved €50mn as risk precaution. "We
have no problems with liquidity, we even have a considerable
liquidity cushion," Berger said. Due, among other factors, to decreased risk precaution in general, HSH Nordbank boosted its profits in the first
half year by more than 10%, raising its pre-tax return by 0.5
percentage points to 15.5%.